An Operating System for Everyday Life

We want Uber to be the operating system for your everyday life: however you want to move around your city, and whatever you need, we want Uber to be your go-to app.

Uber started with on-demand rides, but we’ve grown to offer access to everything from food delivery to electric bikes and scooters. We’ve even integrated public transit into the Uber app—as well as a few helicopters.

Today, we debuted our vision for thenext generation of the Uber app: a new way to discover, access and experience the growing number of services available through our platform. You’ll now see our Rides, Eats and future options side-by-side, so you can make the best choice for you. This new app experience is currently testing in hundreds of U.S. and international cities.

We recognize that becoming an integral part of people’s lives comes with real responsibility. That’s why we are working to make sure every customer is treated like a VIP, every driver and courier feels like a valued partner, and every city feels like we’re a good citizen. With that in mind, today we also announced a number of innovative features and new partnerships.

We announced new technologies we are developing that will continue to raise the bar on safety, and set the standard for the rideshare industry:

Verify Your Ride: To make sure you get in the right car, you’ll now be able to choose to receive a unique four-digit PIN to verbally provide to your driver. The driver will only be able to start your trip in the app once the correct PIN has been entered. We’re also developing new technology that uses ultrasoundwaves to automatically verify you’re in the right car, no PIN needed.

On-Trip Reporting: You’ll no longer have to wait until after you get out of the car to report a problem to Uber. Soon, riders will see a “Report Safety Incident” option in their safety toolkit (the blue shield icon) that will let them report a safety issue during their trip. Uber’s safety team will follow up after the trip.

Text to 911: Last year, we added an emergency button in the Uber app to connect riders and drivers directly to 911 in case of an emergency. Now, we’re adding an option to send a text message to 911 in cities and counties that support this technology. We’ll automatically draft a text message that includes trip details like the car’s make and model, license plate, and location so that 911 operators can respond quickly.

Improved Real-Time ID Check: In 2016, we announced Real-Time ID Check, which helps ensure that the driver behind the wheel matches the account in our system. We started with basic selfies, and today’s enhancement prompts a driver to perform a random series of basic movements—blinking, smiling and/or turning their head—to add another layer of security.

Bike Lane Alerts: By the end of October, riders in more than 200 cities around the world will receive an in-app notification when they’re being dropped off near a bike lane. We think this reminder will help make sure riders are looking out for cyclists before they open the door, which can improve safety for everyone.

We also announced a number of new products and features we hope will make every Uber user feel like a VIP:

We announced an Uber Passthat provides all-in-one savings like ride price protection, $0 delivery fee on Uber Eats orders (and more) for customers in 10 cities who use rideshare, Uber Eats and, for a limited time, our bikes and scooters. These options complement Ride Pass,which isavailable in 40 cities. And today we also announced an Eats Pass which is now available in 18 cities for frequent food delivery customers.

Uber Rewards is expanding to allow customers earn redeemable points every time they take an Uber ride or get Uber Eats. In the US, Uber Rewards members can now choose new rewards like $0 delivery fee on Uber Eats orders, free meal items from partners like McDonald’s and Ben and Jerry’s (coming soon), and discounts on UberX and Uber Comfort rides. Uber Rewards is also going global, so US travelers can earn points when using Uber anywhere abroad—and the program is expanding to Brazilian and Mexican customers, too.

We’re launching allergy-friendly filters for Uber Eats, a new feature that will make it easier for the millions of people with allergies or dietary restrictions to more effectively order on Uber Eats. When choosing a dish, you can easily communicate your allergy or dietary restriction to restaurants through the app. If a restaurant can’t accommodate a request, they can message you and provide an opportunity to order another item that fits your needs.

We are always working to expand the selection of restaurants available on Uber Eats. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce an exclusive partnership with sweetgreen. We’re proud to team up with a leader in the food industry whose social impact ethos and investment in local communities have enabled them to grow into a national brand with a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food.

Lastly, we’re continuing to build on the success of our digital-only virtual restaurants, including a partnership with Rachael Ray, who will open her first-ever restaurant—virtually—on Uber Eats. Timed with the launch of her new cookbook, we’re teaming up with Rachael to offer some of her favorite recipes in 10 cities for 10 weeks. The virtual restaurant will live exclusively on Uber Eats and will offer customers and fans alike the opportunity to enjoy Rachael’s food at home for the first time.

We announced several new features geared towards drivers and couriers:

We are announcing our upcoming debut of an earnings estimator to help drivers better predict their earnings potential. We hope this will provide drivers more information so they can better understand what they can reasonably expect to earn—even before they take their first trip.

Drivers also tell us they want more information about where and when are the best places and time to drive, so they can make the right choices for their personal circumstances. Today we’re rolling out new tools to help, including a new Demand Heatmap that highlights areas where more riders are requesting trips, and better predictions of when drivers can expect a trip request.

At times, drivers get trips to locations where they’re less likely to get a rider heading back in the other direction. So in November, we’re introducing Back to Busy Area. If a driver completes a trip in a quiet area, they can turn this on to help filter trip requests back in the direction of their choice. We also announced drivers in most US states can earn on Uber Eats even when they’re traveling, meaning they can earn wherever they go.

We’re also working hard to recognize and create more opportunities to reward drivers. Our Uber Pro program includes rewards like 100% tuition coverage at ASU Online and discounts for common driving-related expenses. Today, more than 1.5 million drivers are part of Uber Pro, and we are on track to hit 3 million by the end of the year. We’re also excited to bring Uber Pro to even countries, including the UK, Brazil, and Argentina.

We also took steps to make sure we are being a good citizen to every city we serve:

We are expanding our in-app Transitoption to San Francisco, Mexico City and Paris today, and 7 more cities (on every continent!) by the end of the year. We’re excited to bring real-time scheduling and fare information from some of the biggest public transportation systems in the world onto the Uber app.

We also announced new updates to make Bikes & Scooters easier to find when you’re on the go, and new hardware to help keep devices charged and available to customers.

Our new generation of JUMP bikes and scooters come with easy-to-use swappable batteries. To make finding a ride with a full battery easier than ever, we’re building the new JUMP Charging Kiosk, which will allow you to swap out a low-charge battery for a fresh one, on the go. Our new battery-swappable bikes, scooters and charging infrastructure will be in select cities next year.

Starting next month, we’ll begin showing bikes and scooters on the map inside the Uber app, so it’s easier than ever to see micro-mobility options around you—whether they are Uber’s or not. We’ll make this change in all 28 cities where our JUMP bikes or scooters are available, plus a dozen US cities where Lime scooters are available via the Uber app.

Food delivery has quickly grown in popularity—Uber Eats recently completed its billionth delivery. At that scale, we have a part to play when comes to reducing plastic and food waste. Beginning next month, you’ll have to request straws, utensils and other serving items when you place your order. Restaurants should no longer include them by default.

And through a new partnership with Feeding America, we’re working to help tackle hunger and food insecurity, which affects more than 37 million Americans. We’ll bring our technology and network to bear, for instance by working with restaurants who use Uber Eats to donate excess food that would otherwise go to waste, or using our Uber Freight network to move food donations between Feeding America’s nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries.

Sustainability: A quarter of all carbon emissions come from transportation. That’s why we’re committing to measure our environmental impact via two new methodologies—travel efficiency and carbon impact—and to reporting on our progress in the coming months; reducing our carbon footprint by committing to power all of our US offices with 100% renewable energy by 2025; and investing in products and programs to reduce carbon intensity on our platform, including new partnerships with EVgo and Powerdot, and helping to found the Global New Mobility Coalition, a new entity at the World Economic Forum.

What’s next

We know good ideas can come from anywhere, and we want to open our global platform—with 100 million active consumers and more than 4 million drivers and delivery partners—to entrepreneurs both inside and outside Uber. Enter the Uber Incubator, a new opportunity for entrepreneurs and startups to use our platform to take their ideas to the next level:

We’re launching a new six-month Entrepreneur in Residence program, open to both Uber employees and external applicants, where entrepreneurs can work hand-in-hand with our Incubator team to turn their ideas into businesses on Uber’s platform.

We’re also actively engaging with early-stage startups that are taking smart risks and want to leverage the strengths of our platform to scale their businesses. We’re hoping to find opportunities to grow new startups that can help improve our customer experience across mobility, logistics and more.

If you would like to join us as we build new products, we have dozens of openings for tech and non-tech candidates.

Go to http://t.uber.com/incubator to see open positions and to find out more soon about our startup and entrepreneur engagement efforts.